Horrific Lacey Murders Shocked This New Jersey Town A Year Ago

LACEY TOWNSHIP, NJ - It's been just over a year since Kim Dunphey, her seven-year-old son Owen Scott and the family's little Welsh Corgi dog were brutally murdered by Gregg Scott, Dunphey's husband and Owen's father.

Owen would have turned 8 on March 2. Kim would be 50 now. And why they died remains just as much a mystery today as it did last summer.

What is known is this. At some point, Scott beat Kim, Owen and the little dog to death in their olive-shingled ranch home with the yellow shutters on Nautilus Boulevard. Their bodies were found on Aug. 15. Autopsies showed that they all died of blunt force trauma.

Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato termed the deaths "unspeakable," and declined to release any details, other than to say the deaths were the "apparent result of a marital dispute."

"I hesitantly make this announcement in light of the relentless media interest and subsequent coverage in hopes of quickly putting this sad episode to rest," Coronato said then. "It is my hope to minimize the trauma to these families in any way possible."

An autopsy on Gregg Scott determined that he died of self-inflicted injuries.

"The Prosecutor's Office has held back on releasing further details to spare the surviving family members any further pain," Coronato said.

Lacey Police Chief Michael DiBella and Capt. Patrick Ganley also declined to discuss the details of the homicides. The murders were also hard on Lacey police officers who were the first to respond, the two said.
Lacey has had homicides in the past, but nothing of this magnitude that the two men could remember.

A shocked Lacey community and others immediately chipped in with money for the gofundme.com site to raise money for the funerals for the little boy and his mother. The campaign had a goal of $20,000. A total of $25,950 was raised for the account, which is now closed.

"Two beautiful souls with so much life to live taken from us way to soon," according to the gofundme post.

Photo: Courtesy of gofundme, a Patch promotional partner.

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